Falsafah Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran
- Pernyataan falsafah yang jelas dengan kepercayaan dan nilai
- Pernyataan teori / model yang mendasari falsafah pengajaran dan pembelajaran.
1. Teaching philosophy- Dr. Zalina’s teaching philosophy is mainly focused on ensuring the students understand the lectures and she gives more attention on cultivating independent study habits in the hearts of the students she teaches. She is also friendly to students and always encourages students to ask her any questions regarding the lecture notes and to be more open instead of being shy.
2. Teaching style- Dr. Zalina teaches the lecture in a slow paced manner and always emphasise on main points or keywords found in the lecture which I find very useful and helpful as its more easier to focus on rather than reading the whole lecture which has almost 100 pages at least. Moreover, she always asks everyone whether they understand the lecture or not before moving to the next slide. And after class is over, we have to submit our own questions from the lecture that she taught, and the questions will be used as our revision before exam.
3. Student engagement- Student engagement is always present as the lectures are monitored by Dr. but the lectures are read by the students. Very fun way of learning the lecture and tries to always involve a 2-way communication.
4. Student background- The students are mostly from Terengganu and Kelantan with a few others from different cities but nonetheless, the way she approaches students of different backgrounds are equal. The language she uses is easily understandable and polite to everyone. She treats everyone fairly although there are some students from different races and cultures in our classroom.
5. Hope and expectations- Always high and always encourages student to act at their best behaviour all the time which is actually very important and great. She hopes for the best for everyone and tries her best to make the students succeed.
6. Assessment method- Dr. Zalina assesses students based on their work and initiative during her class or laboratory experiment. She will always keep an eye on us and ensure that we are always doing something regarding the experiment instead of doing nothing. She also assesses students based on their honesty and does not like copying other people’s work.
Teaching Statement
I obtained my undergraduate degree in pharmacy from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland and subsequent higher qualifications (MSc and PhD) from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia.
I had to balance between managing my family, bringing up my children and my academic readings, examinations, hospital job, research and some external extra qualifications that I pursued. And on reminiscing, I would say, I had done those quite well, Alhamdulillah.
Upon completion of my PhD in 2017, I started my academic career at Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) after serving as a hospital pharmacist at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for 17 years. My interest and passion in teaching and sharing knowledge have started when I have been invited as a speaker for talks and conferences, appointed as a facilitator for workshops and seminars, and preceptor and supervisor for undergraduate and postgraduate student attachments at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Among the subjects I teach include Basic Pharmacology, Toxicology, Laboratory Animal Science, Research Methodology and Basic Pathology for Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Honours), Basic Pharmacology and Basic Pathophysiology for Bachelor of Nutrition Science (Hons) and Bachelor of Dietetics (Hons), and Basic Pathology for Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology at Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA).
I started teaching pharmacy students at Faculty of Pharmacy, UniSZA involving various basics and advanced subjects include from the Pharmacology Discipline including Cardiovascular, Renal & Respiratory Pharmacotherapeutics, Pharmacology of GIT and Hepatobiliary System, General and Peripheral Nervous System Pharmacology, form the Pharmaceutical Technology Discipline including Dosage Form Design I (Liquid & Semi-Liquid) and Physical Pharmacy, and from the Basic Health Sciences Discipline including Pharmaceutical Biotechnology & Immunology, Pharmaceutical Microbiology & Sterile Preparations, Human Anatomy and Physiology II and Human Anatomy and Physiology I.
Practising the most important and crucial principle in professional training, I always integrate real experiences with the theories. I truly believe this to be a great tool for understanding knowledge and for enhancement of clinical practices. My significant contributions in teaching various subjects from different disciplines and faculties is one of my most valuable assets for understanding of the clinical pharmaceutical sciences and for the enhancement of clinical practices.
My distinguished career as a hospital pharmacist has had me teaching subjects in the university such as pharmacology to be more closely integrated with the clinical sciences and real cases in hospital being used during learning and teaching session. My 17 years experiences also being used to help reduce burden of teaching of other lectures in clinical pharmacy discipline when I also was appointed as one of the preceptors for hospital pharmacy attachment.
I have conducted interesting and stimulating teaching methods aims at creating the knowledge base which will help students during the clinical years of training and in choosing drugs rationally in their future practise. My teaching has inculcated in students a capacity for self-directed learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an uncertain and stressful environment for both faculty and students. However, interestingly I received a good comments for my teaching evaluations such as “TODAY’S LESSON IS SO GOOD” and “The TnL activities done helped my understanding”.
My talents as a lecturer brings prestige and a strong reputation to the faculty. I have experiences in planning for educational activities, assessment of educational needs and coordinating teaching activities. I also participate in the preparation of Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) program accreditation at UniSZA. I was appointed as the Programme Coordinator for Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) (May 2018 –May 2020) and subsequently I became the Deputy Dean (Research & Development) (Disember 2019 –June 2020) before being promoted to a Deputy Dean (Academic & Graduate).
I love sharing my own life stories as a postgraduate students and as a hospital pharmacist at a tertiary teaching hospital to inspire students to achieve their ambitions. I also belief that those students who have close, positive and supportive relationships with their teachers will attain higher levels of achievement than those students with more conflict in their relationships. I love everything about teaching. This passion has led me for years, and it helped me develop a list of guiding teaching principles. My three teaching principles among others include:
1. We as students must always respect and obey our teachers because teachers are very meritorious people in our lives.
2. Always disciplined ourselves for success.
3. Our image as a student should be nurtured because the image reflects ourselves.